1.8.11

LIVE STREAMING: IT'S HERE

So the cat has crawled rather quietly out of the bag: there will be live streaming of qualifiers and PTCs this season.

In addition, territories currently not served by live television coverage of major tournaments will now have access to them online.

World Snooker has set up livesnooker.tv with Perform, world leaders in internet sports streaming.

Qualifiers and PTCs remain free on betting websites if you have a funded account but are available in higher quality (the streaming, not the matches) on the bespoke website.

Full details are hard to come by but it appears to be £29.99 for a year’s viewing in the UK and Europe (or £2.99 a month) and £39.99 (or £3.99 a month) elsewhere – it costs more outside the UK and Europe because you get access to more tournaments as TV deals with the BBC and Eurosport prohibit absolutely everything being available to absolutely everyone.

It was all rather strange this morning when the streaming suddenly appeared but having seen first hand how these pictures are produced I’m not that surprised that a ‘soft launch’ (and it was certainly that) was favoured.

This is not just a matter of fixing a webcam to a table. It takes a lot of planning and all sorts of things in the production process can and do go wrong when you are setting up something new.

Thankfully Perform know what they are doing. They are responsible for streaming all manner of sport all over the world and produce the Championship League snooker event, which has run successfully for the last four years.

It appears the qualifiers will have two tables streamed, each with two camera coverage, graphics and, eventually, commentary.

From what I saw earlier today the coverage was excellent.

It has all come about in a rather understated way but, really, who cares? The bottom line is that it’s great news that there will now be professionally done streaming of snooker that has for too long been played under the radar.

For many it will be a chance to watch the qualifiers for the first time. And, of course, the PTCs feature snooker’s biggest names.

The world has come a long way since black and white television and the late, great Ted Lowe sat in the audience whispering his commentaries.

I was actually involved in a small way with the first attempt to stream snooker online more than a decade ago when I worked for TSN.

At the Regal Masters in Scotland we had our own studio and it had an anarchic ‘Wayne’s World’ feel to it a world away from the more formal TV presentation. When we interviewed players we showed them every respect but not too much deference and asked them questions fans would want answering (including, if I remember correctly, “have you ever dressed as a woman?”)

It had a few surreal moments too, notably when someone pressed a button inadvertently and viewers were treated to a few seconds of studio guest Phil Yates wolfing down his dinner.

The problem back then was that this was pre-broadband and watching on dial up led to buffering and the screen freezing (please no jokes about how, with some players, you couldn’t tell the difference).

Technology is vastly improved now and, with the game finally going places again, the streaming will allow fans to follow more snooker than ever before, as well as giving some of the lower ranked players some exposure.

This really is great news! Watching Robin Hull - Andrew Pagett right now (2-2) it looks like the quality of play is great too :) (Hull 127 and a couple 70-80 breaks for both players..). Go Robin! (I play at the same club as Robin, so routing for him a little bit more :)

Dave why will the streaming on the betting sites not be as good as the world snooker site ? ihave a bet365 account and watch the championship league on there streaming is perfect.will it be just as good for ptc's ?

Dave do you know much about the Premier League and ticket costs? I'm looking at the one for Motherwell on 22 September and it says tickets cost £43 each. Surely that isn't right is it? If it is I know for a fact noone will be there.

You know what's gonna happen...only a handful of people will pay money to watch these qualifiers and then it will be scrapped again. 110sport went into it in a big way and look what happened to them.

The problem is they can't make it free as it costs to set up the equipment and stuff, but the harsh reality is very very few people are going to pay money to watch these qualifiers, and it won't be worth anyone's while.

This really is fantastic news. The two big pluses for me is not just the fact that they're streaming two tables but that both tables each have two (possibly three) cameras. It would have been quite easy and cheaper to have just stuck a camera pointing down on the table with no need for a camera man present but they've gone the full distance here giving the viewer a much better product. Well done to all involved - it's a major bonus from a betting perspective.

@1021: I'm not so sure. The fact is 110 were just ahead of the time, and it just wasn't viable in the dialup age. Another difference is the product—overseas fans will be able to watch the proper tournaments like the WC and Masters (I'm assuming access will be sold to non-BBC/Eurosport regions). Sure, if they were just flogging qualifiers and PTCs then this would fail because you'd only get a few hardcore fans; but I'd be willing to wager that this thing could pull 10,000 viewers from outside Europe and China, which would notch up 400k—enough moolah to cover the costs and, say, double the prize money at the foreign PTCs. This is the future, with more and more TVs including wireless internet access, internet broadcasts will be regarded as just another TV channel by the end of the decade.

I've just been to the site, and I am being asked to pay £39.99 or £3.99 a month, even though I live in the UK.I'm reluctant to do this in case it is a mistake, as your article gives the impression that it should be £29.99 or £2.99 a month in the UK.I think I'll wait and see if this situation gets clarified.

Watching Jimmy White right now, very interesting, nobody shouting "come on Jimmy", just a professional snooker craftsman trying to outplay his opponent. A bit like chess, intricate game, old grandmaster and no spectators.The young chinese lady ref is on top of the game, will she shake hands after the match?

Dave is ptc 2 being streamed next week ?.the reason i ask is on the liveworldsnooker.tv website it gives a schedule for the next 14 days.they have a list of sessions for the shanghai masters but no word of ptc.can you shed some light on this ?

Dave will there be commentary on the ptc event ?. I follow you on twitter and i see you said "all thats missing is commentary".will there be commentary on the betting sites for the ptc ?. I know you clive everton and neal foulds do the championship league commentary.